Dover, New Jersey

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Dover is a town in Morris County, New Jersey on the Rockaway River. Dover is 39 miles west of New York City and 29 miles west of Newark, New Jersey. As of the United States Census, 2010, the town's population was 18,157. The total area of the town is 2.7 square miles.

On May 31, 1722, Joseph Latham and his wife Jane deeded 527 acres (2.13 km2) over to John Jackson of Flushing, New York. Joseph Latham was deeded the land in 1713 by virtue of land purchased from the Indians by the Proprietors of West Jersey. Historical records show that a small Indian village was settled at the site of Hurd Park and thus the reason for the naming of the nearby Indian Falls. Iron ore at the time was so plentiful that it was easily picked off the surface of the ground at the nearby Dickerson Mine in Mine Hill. Horse back saddles would bring the ore to Jackson’s Forge and he would process the ore into bars that would then be transported to points eastward, namely the factories at Paterson. It is believed that Jackson had a pretty good business until hard time hits in 1750 by an Act of the British Parliament known as the “Iron Act.” It stated that all iron ore processing and manufacturing of iron products would cease in the colonies and that all raw iron was to be shipped to England for manufacturing and then the finished products sold back to the colonies. By 1753 John Jackson went bankrupt and all his property and belongings were sold off at a Sheriff’s sale. Quaker Hartshorne Fitz Randolph purchased his property and annexed to his existing property to become part of Randolph Township.

Dover was incorporated as a village in 1826 and on April 1, 1869 as a town. The town charter was amended in 1875. In its past, Dover has had extensive iron and mill works, machine shops, stove, furnace, and range works, boiler and bridge works, rolling mills, drill works, knitting and silk mills, and a large hosiery factory.

In the twentieth century, Dover was the center of community life in northern Morris County with its largest employer being the government facilty at Picatinny Arsenal. During World War II the Arsenal was a major ammunition loading facilty. Today the town of Dover has one of the largest Hispanic populations in New Jersey.


www.dover.nj.us/